Healthcare IT companies raised $1 billion in venture capital in Q2 — down slightly from the $1.3 billion raised in Q1 but up significantly from the $451.3 million raised in Q4 2022. Unsurprisingly, a lot of these investments were made in companies offering generative AI products. Another key trend was increasing cash flow to remote patient monitoring startups, likely caused by expanded reimbursement for these services.

Avalon BioVentures unveiled new portfolio company Arialys Therapeutics. The startup’s lead program, an antibody from Astellas Pharma, is a potential treatment for anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis (ANRE), a rare autoimmune inflammatory disorder.

Startup Star Therapeutics will use the Series B funding to support clinical development of a drug candidate for von Willebrand disease, a bleeding disorder. The capital will also support the formation of new biotech subsidiaries developing antibodies with therapeutic applications in hematology and immunology.

Intarcia Therapeutics’ GLP-1 agonist product candidate for type 2 diabetes now belongs to i2o Therapeutics, which will make the treatment’s case for approval at an upcoming FDA advisory committee meeting. The startup’s $46 million Series A financing is one of several recently announced funding rounds.

Medtech funding reached its low point in the first quarter but will slowly pick back up over the rest of 2023, according to a new Pitchbook report. It noted that this year’s medtech funding total will not come close to the $19.7 billion the sector raised in 2021, and it might even come in below last year’s funding total of $13.5 billion.

Septerna Therapeutics’ Series B financing will support plans to reach the clinic with a pill for a rare disease whose only approved therapy is a Takeda Pharmaceutical drug that’s leaving the market. Potential rival therapies are all injectables.

The digital health sector has entered a new era when it comes to funding, and startups in this space must quickly adjust to an investment landscape that is characterized by lower check sizes, fewer deals and smaller cohort of investors. If things continue at the pace the sector has maintained throughout the first half of the year, 2023 will mark the field’s lowest yearly fundraising total since 2019, according to a new report.

Two VCs from Merck Global Health Innovation Fund recently offered fundraising advice for digital health companies. They told these firms to expect slower funding timelines, urged them not to be afraid of down or flat rounds, and advised them to spend time nailing down the specifics of their growth narrative.

Healthcare IT companies experienced a bounceback in venture capital deal activity during Q1 of 2023. Rebecca Springer, PitchBook ’s lead healthcare analyst, said she is optimistic that healthcare IT startups will be able to keep this momentum going, especially those focused on staffing and value-based care enablement.

Global funding for digital health companies finally stabilized in Q1 of this year. The sector raised $3.4 billion — this marks the first time the digital health world didn’t experience a quarter-over-quarter funding decline since Q4 of 2021. By holding steady, digital health startups defied the dwindling fundraising totals seen across the broader venture capital landscape, where funding dropped by 13% quarter-over-quarter.

Ask the Investor sessions at MedCity INVEST at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago May 22-24 offer opportunities for startups to talk with investors in intimate settings. Spots are limited so register today!

While the digital health sector might feel a little cramped in some areas, there are wide open spaces in others — and investors are ready to funnel money into companies looking to innovate these lesser-discussed aspects of care delivery and healthcare technology. Some of these areas include Medicaid, generative AI and patient-to-patient support.

ARCH Venture Partners-backed Orbital Therapeutics’ is researching next-generation RNA medicines that offer advantages over currently available therapies. The startup’s three areas of focus are vaccines, protein replacement, and immunomodulation.

Startups feature prominently at MedCity INVEST from Pitch Perfect to Ask the Investor. Check out the investors who will be judging the startups at INVEST May 22-24 in Chicago and register today!

A new study from Bessemer Venture Partners analyzed more than 100 venture-backed healthcare companies to determine the best strategies to scale to $100 million in annual recurring revenue. The report laid out a few main lessons health tech companies should know, such as the importance of nurturing relationships with early customers and making sure efficiency metrics are paid close attention.

SR One’s new investment fund is its second one since spinning out of GSK in 2020. The firm says it now has more than $1.5 billion in assets under management.

Flare Therapeutics, EpiBiologics, and Mbiomics are among the biotech companies that recently unveiled new rounds of financing.

GV led Chroma Medicine’s Series B financing round, which the biotech will apply toward epigenetic medicines that could offer advantages over other editing technologies. Other recent financings include rounds from Cargo Therapeutics and Transcend Therapeutics.

Francesca de Quesada Covey, chief investment officer at investment firm TheVentureCity, believes the women’s health sector will come into its own in the next few years. She said startups focused on improving care delivery will probably have the easiest time raising funds of all the companies in the femtech space.

Last year’s digital health investment trends have left some startups feeling uneasy about their ability to raise capital in the new funding environment. Venture capitalists think companies that have a demonstrable return on investment and serve multiple stakeholders will probably have the easiest time securing capital, while point solutions and startups in crowded markets will face a tougher environment.

Cancer continues to be a hot area of investment, and it’s the therapeutic focus of several biotech companies that have closed recent rounds of financing. Meanwhile, the investment arm of a big pharmaceutical company has an infusion of new cash to deploy in therapeutic and digital investments.

Going into 2023, investors think the abilities to demonstrate ROI and clinical validation will be the most important factors determining digital health companies’ success, according to a new report. While the ROI factor is a given, clinical validation “is the best signal of patient value and historically has been under-captured in digital health,” said Sunny Kumar, a partner at GSR Ventures.

This year has been marked by a rise in health tech layoffs, reduced health tech investment and the continued rise of retail health. What does this mean for healthcare investment in 2023?

Hear from patients, leading provider and payer executives, investors, and healthcare startups about how to improve the patient experience at the event, which kicks off the first day of the HLTH conference. ENGAGE at HLTH is scheduled for November 13 at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas.

Red Tree Venture Capital has closed a $272 million fund focused on investing in West Coast life sciences companies. The firm’s founders say they’re filling a need by providing financial support for innovations emerging from the region’s academic labs.

The biggest biotech financing of the past week belongs to a startup developing an immunology drug that could rival blockbuster products sold by big pharmaceutical companies. Cell therapy, cancer, and rare disease also figured into this week’s startup cash hauls.

Redesign Health, a company that creates healthcare startups, closed a $65 million Series C funding round. The company has already built more than 40 startups — such as cancer care technology provider Jasper Health, home health company MedArrive and weight loss startup Calibrate.

General Catalyst recently launched a $670 million healthcare investment fund. The fund, called Health Assurance Fund II, seeks to carry on the mission of the venture capital firm’s first healthcare-focused fund, but with a new focus on health system partnerships.

Add an Ask the Investor breakfast meeting to your INVEST Digital Health agenda and gain insights from investors from DaVita Venture Group, Noro-Moseley Partners, Providence Ventures, FirstTrust Capital, Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas, and Flare Capital Partners.

Digital health startups raised $10.3 billion across 329 deals during the first half of 2022. This putts the sector on track to rake in $21 billion this year, about $8 billion less than the total amount it raised in 2021. The market boom has ended, but the digital health investment space has not come crashing down by any means, according to a recent report.